Introductions
by Iluvbeyblade
Summary: Snippets of life together, be it good or bad or just plain suprising. KaiSalima. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

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This is the first of ten oneshots that I wrote for this pairing when I was bored and had writer's block. Some are weird, some are fluffy, some are angsty, some are my crap attempt at humour.

Enjoy!

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Introduction

"Um … hi." She peered at the silent boy beside her, caught between trembling with nervousness and twitching with annoyance; this was the fifth time she had attempted to introduce herself. "Excuse me? Hello?" The thick, smoky atmosphere of the pub made her want to cough, made her light-headed and slow-witted. Not really that different from normal really, she thought wryly.

"Hey."

She waited for him to say something else, even if it was a demand to know what she was doing. None came. Wrong-footed, she fought her tongue, leaden with nervousness, into the speaking position again – only to say something that would have been far better off tucked neatly away in her head, or so she reflected afterwards.

"Oh, ok. Um. Hi. Um …"

"You gonna say something, or stand there like a goldfish?"

"Um …"

"Be a goldfish, then." She watched miserably as he walked away to the bar without a backwards look, and wandered back to her chair in the corner where she berated herself for the loss of her one chance, for coherency that was the first thing to go when nerves struck.

Ten minutes later, a glass of lemonade – how he did know that she didn't, wouldn't, _couldn't_ drink? – slid to a stop just in front of her. She looked up and met his eyes hesitantly.

"Well? Thanks'd be nice. Salima, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's me. Thanks, Kai."

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I'll be updating once a week to give me time to write more sets-of-ten oneshots for different pairings (already chosen). This seems to me to be a great way to wriggle past my writer's block - I might even get the inspiration back to update a fic after a month or two!

Review? Though I can't expect much with this pairing. xD


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two - my crap attempt at humour. xD Enjoy! Thank you to **SuicidalBeyblader **and **Lamanth** for reviewing!**

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**Love**

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"I really don't get it, Kai." Tala took another long gulp of whiskey and waved his hands around in an expressive gesture that nearly toppled him off his chair. Kai watched him solemnly as he grabbed for the table edge

"Get what?" he asked at last. Tala stifled a yawn behind one hand before continuing,

"I don't get what you see in her. I mean, she's good-looking enough, I suppose, but …" He shrugged.

"You'd never've dared ask me that if I could stand up."

They burst out laughing, stopping only when tears came to their eyes and the already precarious world threatened to upend itself totally.

"I still don't get it." Tala prompted mulishly. "Why her?"

"Why _not_ her?" Kai countered, absurdly proud of his speedy reply that left Tala fumbling for coherence.

"Because she's a bit … well … pathetic." Tala didn't quite dare to look at Kai, who simply said,

"Is she? Not to me." Kai stared at his empty glass and the misery that the sight produced made him wax philosophical. "It all depends, doesn't it? Beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all that. How _I_ see Salima … different from how _you_ see her. I could say things about Julia you wouldn't like, too. _And_ I'd be telling the truth – or," he added quickly as Tala scowled, "my interpretation of the truth. My truth, yeah? So, I have my truth, that being that Sal's mine, and she's great and … stuff. And you have your truth, that she's … whatever you said."

"Pathetic?" Tala offered, with the foolhardy air of someone who'd escaped mere seconds before putting their head _back_ into the lion's mouth. Kai nodded and yawned loudly.

"That." They sat in silence for another round. Still curious, Tala wondered hazily how much he could get away with asking.

"Do you love her?" He rested his head on his folded arms and looked blearily at his friend, who was ordering another round with a fair approximation of sobriety. When Kai didn't answer, his attention drifted and he followed people around the room with his eyes and wished for Julia. Eventually, he blinked several times, remembering his last question, and attempted to flick a packet of salt at Kai.

Not only did he miss Kai, he missed the salt. Damn.

"Kai?"

"Mm?" Kai replied, struggling to lift his full glass.

_Deaf bastard_. "Do you love her?"

"Who?"

"Salima!" Tala almost shouted.

"Seema?" Kai mocked Tala's slur with a grin. "Don't know a Seema."

"Kai!"

"Uh?"

"Do you love her?"

"Prob'ly."

As much as Tala tried, he could get no other answer out of Kai; in fact, no other words other than something that sounded vaguely like; "I'm so drunk, Tala," just before he gave up on defying gravity and curled up happily on the wooden floor, dark hair askew, deaf to Tala's hysterical laughter and the flashes as people took pictures.

_You've never refused to answer me before, Kai, _Tala thought as his head dropped again to his folded arms and his eyes slid shut.

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(rants about how she can't write people who are drunk)

Review?


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to Kelly Yeoh for reviewing, and my clone for adding it to her alerts. :) This is the longest one out of them all, I think.

Enjoy!

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**Dark**

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Flames from the destroyed Battle Tower leapt high in the air, casting twisted shadows on the two teams gathered half a mile away and watching in horrified awe.

Well, some were.

"Take that, Gideon! We're the best!" Tyson yelled, cheering at the top of his voice and jumping up and down happily. Everyone laughed softly, though Hilary, still recovering from her earlier terror that Tyson and Max had been killed as the Tower collapsed, managed only a wry chuckle. Max and Kane, the two who had received the most severe injuries during their respective battles, were lying on the ground half-asleep. Hearing Tyson, Max blinked and opened his eyes a fraction.

"Shut it, Tyson, I'm trying to get to sleep here." he mumbled, yawning widely and looking down at Draciel for the hundredth time.

"Oops, sorry, Maxie," Tyson apologised, grinning. "You okay?"

"Mmph." Max ignored his best friend in favour of sleep.

"O_kay_..." Tyson shrugged and turned to stare at the ruined tower yet again.

Ray stretched and stood up.

"How's Kane, Salima?" he asked. The slender red-head looked up at him.

"He's okay, I think, but he'll have to stay in bed for a while!" She and the other ex-Psychics laughed as Kane mumbled something inaudibly under his breath. "Which he won't like."

Ray chuckled, smiled his thanks, and wandered off to stand next to Tyson.

Shaking out her cramped limbs, Salima stood and smiled down at Goki and Jim. "I'll be back in a minute or two, okay? I just need to stretch my legs." Her friends nodded, and she headed towards the trees.

Once she was out of sight, she breathed a sigh of relief. Ray and Kane - when he was awake - were both so awkward around her that it was close to unbearable. And she didn't know _why_, either. She knew that Kane liked her, and she suspected the same of Ray, but why did they keep acting almost as though they were ashamed? Leaning her head against the rough trunk of a tree, she sighed again.

"Lovesick fools, aren't they?" a voice said from a few metres away. With a cry of alarm, she spun around, only to see Kai gazing steadily at her. She laughed nervously.

"Kai, you made me jump!"

"Yeah, I do that to most people." Kai said smugly. Silence fell. "Well done out there," he said at last, the smirk disappearing from his face. Salima stared at him, perplexed. "I know how hard it is to fight something like that."

"Oh!" The word was little more than a gasp, a whisper of breath. "Do you?" she asked.

"Yeah." He looked down, just for a split second, but Salima caught it and her heart melted.

"Bad luck."

"Don't _pity _me," he said suddenly, his voice hard, bitter. Hurt stuck a spike in Salima's chest and twisted, but she replied with a smile and a light,

"Why not? It's fun." Kai's mouth twitched, but he shook his head briskly and pressed his lips together.

"What's _fun_?" he asked in a sharp, strange voice. Salima opened her mouth but was stopped when he continued. "Fun is throwing food and staying up late and getting up later and chasing each other round the hotel at three in the morning with entire mattresses instead of pillows, according to that lot." Who he meant was obvious.

"And, to you?" Kai shrugged.

"Fun is winning. Fun is … knowing that you can do anything, and no-one will ever stop you." Salima's eyes widened as Kai spoke words that were far too similar to what she could remember of her power-mad thoughts while under the control of Cyber-Driger. There was a strange _shifting_ feeling in her head, and she nodded.

Not to show that she agreed! Just that she … understood.

"Only when you have mutant bit-beasts controlling you!" she said, too loudly, wondering whether she was trying to persuade him, or herself.

He looked at her, _into_ her, and Salima could feel something swirling behind his eyes. The clear grey of them was like a dark, deep, wide lake - there was something in the depths, hidden and menacing and only stirring when someone disturbed its sanctuary.

It was stirring now.

"Only then," he agreed pleasantly as his eyes darkened and widened and held Salima rooted to the spot, too frightened and confused to know where to go or what to do. "Did you never watch the World Championships last year, Salima?" She shook her head, again and again; those eyes seemed to follow her everywhere. "Well, you missed a real treat. Screw those pathetic cyber bit-beasts; what's a machine to a living organism?"

"Stronger!" Salima replied instantly, feeling that _shifting_ in her mind again.

"No!" Kai snarled. "Weaker! Weaker, because they have limits! They can't _grow_!" Salima shook her head yet again, no longer knowing if the darkness was coming from Kai or spreading from the small, secret place inside her that had welcomed Cyber Driger with glad, open arms. "I took down two teams then, without breaking a sweat, without getting a hit strong enough to make her _wobble_. Eight bit-beasts couldn't match her power."

"Her?" All their bit-beasts were male, Salima _knew_ that.

"Black Dranzer." The name hung in the air, a palpable force between them, and the world disappeared from beneath her feet.

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(evil laughter) This was originally going to turn into something longer, but then it didn't, and it was as good as anything else to use here.

Review, please?


	4. Chapter 4

Anoth short attempt at humour - got some good chapters coming, though. :) Thank you to **TakaYoshida**, **Lamanth** and **Ray-Tiger-Cat** for reviewing!

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**Cat**

"Kai, don't touch me!" Kai rolled his eyes and stomped away almost before Salima's fear-shrilled voice had stopped. It was ridiculous, he thought angrily, how could she still be this afraid of cats when she had been living in the same house as one for three years? The situation was getting out of hand; she seemed to be getting worse rather than better.  
Every day was a choice; let the cat starve and go without affection, or he didn't get within a room's radius of Salima without washing his hands and even changing his clothes.

He hadn't had sex for a week, which showed itself in a strong desire to throw heavy things through windows. Exactly how this would help him get some, he didn't know. It would just make him feel better, he reasoned to himself as he gave his hands a cursory rinse under the tap – Salima would never know any different – and rubbed them dry on the hand-towel.

"Prrrw?" Something soft butted repeatedly against his shin. "Mrow!" Oh good. The cat was in one of her "Food now, bed now, lap _now_, WHY ARE YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ME, YOU BASTARD?" moods.

"Kai? Have you washed your hands? Do you know where the TV remote is?" Brilliant. Absolutely fastantic. Salima was in the same damn mood.

_Hiss! _

"Kai?"

Now he knew what having a harem must feel like …

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No idea where this even came from!

Please review. :D

xxx


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, next chapter! Most of you will have read this one before, I think - I just took it down and reposted it because it was originally supposed to go in here anyway.

This one's dedicated to **Lamanth**, because I managed to scare her. (and myself ...)

Thank you to** TakaYoshida**, **Lamanth**, **Ray-Tiger-Cat** and **shadowphoenix101 **for reviewing!

Cue angst!

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**Pain**

She couldn't sit still, couldn't stand still; pacing through the house, picking things up and tossing them carelessly away again, her stomach cramping and churning, tears tight in her throat and hot in her screwed-up eyes.

Kai's headaches had been getting steadily worse, and right now he was lying in their bed in total blackness, in too much pain to let her anywhere near. She had stood in the doorway for as long as she could take it, watching him shiver with the pain, breaths coming shallowly, but had turned away eventually and fled to the kitchen so that her sobs wouldn't disturb him.

_Go to the doctor! _she demanded of him time and time again, only to be rebuffed by a curt reply in the negative and a confident assertion that he was fine, that she worried too much. Well, she did, she knew she did, but oh, she was so scared! It was twice, three times a week now, and he was looking thinner and paler with every day that passed. All she wanted to know was what was wrong, was that really so neurotic?

--

Cocooned in darkness and trying to fight past hallucinations of being crushed slowly by endless black tentacles, Kai scrabbled for the box of pills that he hid under his pillow and fumbled one to his mouth with clumsy, numb hands. He tried to swallow it but failed, his tongue dry and painful. Giving up with a fatalism that would have shocked everyone who said that they knew him, he let it fall, to stick to the pillow and his cheek.

Let Salima continue to worry that his newly slurred voice was because he was overdosing on painkillers. He would tell her the truth eventually.

He _would_.

He sank back into his dark world where no-one could hear him scream.

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Like? Loathe? Personally, I like it.

Review?

x Ilb x


	6. Chapter 6

This one scares _me_, and I wrote it! It's my favourite, even so. Thanks to **Lamanth** for reviewing via copying and pasting XD Love you! (pokes non-reviewers)

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**6. Hold My Hand**

Her screams had stopped and now there was only sobs and shudders of breath as she threw her remaining energy into pushing, and pushing, and pushing … there seemed to be no end to it, and certainly no sight of the baby boy that Kai was promised.

He was getting frightened, though he would never allow it to be shown. Her face was grey and the way that her head flopped back onto the pillow between contractions, as if her neck was just a thin, useless tube of skin, seemed to bode badly.

_This isn't how it's supposed to happen, Salima!_ he thought uneasily. _It's not supposed to go wrong … _

Two hours and thirty-three minutes later, a tiny, squirming purple body greeted its new environment with desolate wails.

"It's a girl." Kai was told quickly, as medical attention focused on the wan figure lying in the bed.

_A girl?_

He stared at Salima, who looked up at him with a terrifying blankness in her deadened eyes.

"Hold my hand, Kai …" The plea was whisper-soft, and Kai felt more than able to ignore it. "Please …"

"A girl, Sal?" Kai spat on her and watched with contempt as she was unable to summon the strength to wipe it away. "You _promised_ me." Hurt and deceived, he turned, pushing past yet more people in uniforms – why was there so many? – and opened the door. Turning in the doorway, he looked back. Her gaze found his immediately, eyes huge and hazy. He made sure to mouth what he said very carefully, to make sure that she could understand him perfectly. She had always been slow, after all.

"Useless."

With that, Kai Hiwatari walked away from his new daughter and dying wife. Later, with a few pints ingested, he would bemoan her lies and her weakness, and make loud threats about what would happen next time.

Later still, a capture would be made. Kai would go unwillingly. Blows were exchanged. Kai had a gun, and used it.

"She'll do better next time," he promised the white-coats frankly even as the doors closed forever behind him, his arms pinned to his sides in restraints. "She's a good girl really, Sal, she is."

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Don't know where it came from or what goes on in my head.

Review?


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks to **Lamanth** (yes, you are twisted for liking it, what does that make me for writing it, hey?) for reviewing the last chapter!

I love this. Tis cute.

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Smile

Salima cowered inwardly as she stepped into the hall. Instantly, the whispers began, the pointing fingers rose.

"That's her, look …"

"Why her, I mean, come _on_ …"

"She can't even 'blade! Well, not like us …"

"What is she _wearing_?"

_Something that doesn't make me look like I stand on street corners and get paid to fuck middle-aged men._ It took a bitten and bruised tongue to stop that comment from emerging as Salima turned her head very slightly and took in the whisper's high-rise, low-cut "dress". Feeling very small in her plain green dress, her face reddening under the glare of every female in the room, she made her way through the huddled groups.

Why did I have to come? she thought miserably. Insecurity nibbled away at her composure, and by the time that she had crossed the length of the room she was biting her lip to fight back a sob. Nothing ever made her feel quite as bad as being the centre of unwanted attention.

Why was she here? She tipped her head back momentarily to deflect oncoming tears. Did Kai want to show her off? She smiled bitterly and her gaze found Kai's back, turned from her as he talked with Ray. No, it didn't look like it. Melancholy washed over her as she paid attention to the frigid atmosphere. Why would he want to show her off when she was compared to confident, stunning girls like Ming-Ming, Hilary and Mariah? Why had he chosen her over them, anyway?

Kai watched Ray's face with a small smile. His friend was as easy to read as a book, and right now Ray's slightly glazed expression, inability to listen as Kai deliberately struck up a conversation about 'blading, and sudden interest in the other side of the room meant one thing; Salima had arrived.

Ray's entire body twitched. Forewarned, Kai turned and caught Salima's outstretched hand smoothly. He frowned as he saw tears glittering like broken glass in the corner of her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She shook her head and gave a little, dismissive laugh as the tears brimmed until it seemed that only sheer willpower kept them from falling. Ray nudged him.

"The other girls are bitching about her," he whispered into Kai's ear. Kai regarded him with a look of frank puzzlement.

"Why the hell are they doing that?" He swept the room at large with an angry look.

"Because I'm with you, you idiot!" Salima snapped, a flash of grey fire bringing life back to her eyes as she expressed her frustration at his stupidity.

"Oh, right." Kai allowed himself a small smirk of superiority. "Well, that's understandable. Why are you upset over _that_?"

There was no other word for it; Salima _squirmed_ with discomfort.

"Because … maybe they're right," she mumbled at last, her face crimson, tears threatening again. "Maybe I don't deserve you."

"And maybe you're the idiot, not me." Kai regarded her with disdain and she shrank back.

Now, Ray decided, was the time to step in, before Kai's thoughtlessness caused a problem.

There was an easy way to make Kai take control of any given situation; threaten to take control of it instead.

"I don't think Kai deserves you, personally." He flashed her a grin laden with charm, and she smiled uncertainly back. Kai's eyes narrowed and, after a calculating glance, he placed himself between the two, and swept Salima into a kiss that made Ray wonder whether he should avert his eyes to prevent unpleasant images burning his retinas.

"Don't you dare ever think that again," Kai muttered, exerting a large amount of self-control to pull back long enough to speak. She nodded mutely, eyes hot and bright with lust.

Moving back against the wall, Ray waited until every eye was on the happy couple. Quietly, he sidled away to ask Mariah for a dance before she got ideas about Salima and him that just weren't true – much to his disappointment.

But, he thought as he cast a quick look behind him, no-one sane would ever try to take something that was Kai's.

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(cuddles cuteness)

Review, please? It'd be great to get _two_ reviews this chapter ...

x Mha x


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you to Stormy and Turkey for reviewing! (I've given up on formatilties!)

Enjoy chapter 8, everyone reading this! Sorry it's a day late, I was distracted by Harry Potter and my brothers last night.

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**8. Pen and Paper**

Chewing on the end of the blue biro pen, Salima tried to think what she should write. Every week, as promised, she wrote a letter to her mother (always a letter, never an email or even a typed letter) telling her what it was like to live in a foreign country and be the girlfriend of an immensely famous sportsman.

It was a case of where to start, really. With tales of glittering stardom, hanging on Kai's arm and smiling for the cameras? Her new friends, all beyblading stars in their own right?

With this? She touched the purple-red, teeth-marked bruise that sat proudly on her throat.

Or, with this? One hand rested lightly on her stomach, where a small telltale bulge was growing.

What a decision.

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Why do I have such a _thing_ for making them slightly sado-masochistic? (drools) Ah, that's why.

Dun dun DUUUUN, pregnancyyyy ...

Review?


	9. Chapter 9

Big thank you to my Cloud and my Clone for reviewing! (hugs)

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**9. Family**

Salima slid one arm over Kai's prone torso and rested her head on his shoulder. It was approaching midday and the pair hadn't moved other than to pull back the bedcovers when the day started warming up around them.

"Kai?" Salima whispered.

"Mm?" Kai's eyes stayed closed. Salima sat up dizzily, twirling her hair around one finger in a nervous fashion. Her head felt like it was being squeezed through a mangle. Had she even managed to get undressed last night? One look told her that, no, she was still fully dressed down to the shoes.

That was the last drink, she promised herself nervously. _I needed courage, that's all._

"Can we … can I … there's something …" By this third fumbling attempt at coherent speech, Kai was looking at her curiously.

"What's up?" he asked at last, when Salima looked about ready to give in.

"I'm pregnant," she said in a rush, staring at anywhere but Kai's face.

"You're _what_?" Kai shoved himself into a sitting position, seeming to feel none of the wooziness that had affected Salima. She could feel his powerful gaze drilling metaphorical holes in her face – still she refused to look at him as she whispered again,

"I'm pregnant."

The silence in the room was thick and heavy, an almost physical thing that pressed on her eardrums and made breathing suddenly tricky.

"How do you know?" Kai demanded suspiciously. "You've not been throwing up."

"I know," Salima apologised without quite knowing why. "I bought a test yesterday." Kai opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it again. A muscle was twitching under his eye.

"Pregnant?" was all he managed. Salima nodded wordlessly, and jumped as Kai thumped the mattress with his fist. "Dammit, I knew we weren't being careful!" he hissed venomously. Knowing that the only way to stop tears coming was to attack, Salima snapped,

"You could be a bit more pleased!"

"Why?" Kai rounded on her, furious. "It wasn't planned! Why would I want to be saddled with some bawling, wrinkly little-"

"Fine then, I'll go!" Kai head twisted round and he stared at her in shock. "I'm not getting rid of it – you can't make me!" She stood up and stalked over to the closed window, staring out and blinking furiously.

"You really want it?" he said softly, after a long silence.

"Yes!"

"Ok then. We'll … we'll see, all right?" There was yet another pause. "Can we still have sex?" Salima grinned and, walking back over to him, kissed him deeply.

"Like anything could ever stop us."

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I seriously hate this one. But, oh well.

Reviews are loved.

xIlbx


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you to my Stormy for reviewing! Your reward is finding out what I wouldn't tell you. xD

I love this chapter.

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**10. Keeping a Secret**

Kai's mobile phone went _beep_ insistently, and with a muttered curse, he swept it up and pressed the answer button with more force than was strictly necessary.

"What?" he grumbled. Salima watched curiously from the sofa where they had previously been – well, what she called "cuddling" and Kai called "a stupid way of sharing body heat" as a wide smile spread across Kai's face. This was rare enough in itself, only after-sex high or something very funny (or painful, preferably both) happening to Tyson, Tala, or Brooklyn generally produced the megawatt Hiwatari grin. What Kai said in response to the unknown caller made the breath catch in Salima's throat.

"Miss you? Yeah, you stupid sap, whatever you wanna think. Yeah, still the same. Already? You say _I'm_ unsociable? Fine, talk whenever. Enjoy yourself." Shaking his head, he pressed the end call button, gently this time, and tossed the phone on table before throwing himself floppily down next to Salima. "What?" he asked as she stared at him.

"Who was that?" He laughed dryly and slung one arm around her shoulders, pulling her until she was back in her previous position with her head against his chest.

"Someone who likes checking up on me every year or so." The sharp pinch Salima gave him asked him for more details, now, please? Kai grumbled more curses under his breath and wondered how to cut this down.

"Max and I once spent a week together," he said after some thought.

"Max?" Salima's astonishment was palpable. Kai had told her very early on in their relationship that he had experimented with his sexuality – was still not one hundred percent sure, as a matter of fact, but he had never specified names. This particular name, well-known to have been doe-eyed over Mariam since he was fourteen and now happily engaged to her, was not one she would have expected to come up in her wildest dreams.

"Mm," he answered noncommittally.

"When? Why?"

"When we were seventeen, and why … we wanted to." Kai shrugged it off. "So now he rings about once a year and checks whether I'm up for anything or not."

"But you're with me!" Salima's voice was high with outrage as she twisted her head until they had eye contact. Kai looked down at her with a wry little smile.

"Yeah, I know. Max doesn't see the harm in asking – Mariam does the same thing with a few of her exs, so there's no problem with their side of things." Salima was silent, digesting this new side of the cheeky, happy blond boy she had thought that she knew.

"You were never tempted, were you?" she asked anxiously.

"Nah. Too much trouble," he replied laconically. She scoffed and smiled, and cuddled back into him, squashing her doubts. Typical Kai.

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Ok, ok, Max having strange sexual habits appeals far too much. Never mind me.

So, that's the end of the KaiSal feast! A massive thank you to Ray, Lamb, Turkey, TakaYoshida and SuicidalBeyblader for their reviews, and to everyone who has read this (I've been getting approximately 20 hits a chapter).

A new series will be out soon, different pairing.

Love you all!

x Ilb x


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